


Color to Paper

by eerian_sadow



Series: Avalon [98]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Family, Fluff, M/M, excessive cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-08-29
Updated: 2009-08-29
Packaged: 2018-10-14 22:33:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10545452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: Shatter turns Sunstreaker's bad day into a bright spot.





	

**Author's Note:**

> another fic for another of [](http://laratron.livejournal.com/profile)[laratron](http://laratron.livejournal.com/)'s prompts. and because she was so smitten with Shatter that i had to write more of him for her. ^_^

It had been a long, lousy shift and he was eager to get home and relax. His newest recruits hadn’t listened to a word he said, the neutrals who had contracted with them weren’t holding up their end of the deal and there had been dozens of tiny setbacks and problems that had cost his entire crew weeks--if not an entire month’s--worth of work. New Iacon would still be habitable in a reasonable amount of time by Cybertronian standards, but Sunstreaker was still frustrated and irritated by how badly things were going for his project. He really wished that Elita-1 would just put him back into self-defense training; he’d been _good_ at that.

The tiny makeshift studio he and Bluestreak had set up in his quarters was a welcome sanctuary. Just being in the presence of his supplies and projects had a calming effect on him.

He sat down in front of the painting Mirage had commissioned with a sigh. It was roughly half finished, but he was too keyed up to actually work on it and make it look good. He pulled out a smaller, blank canvas and switched it with the larger piece. He thought he might paint something for Sideswipe to hang in his office, though he would have to wait and see how it turned out before he decided where the painting went.

He fussed with his paints and brushes for several minutes, making sure everything was set up within easy reach and then he took up his first brush. He was just putting it to the canvas when a small hand touched his leg.

Sunstreaker froze, desperately trying not to randomly drag the paintbrush across the canvas. When he tensed, the hand pulled back so quickly it might have been burned. The artist turned his head to glare at the intruder in his sanctuary and saw Shatter standing next to him, clutching both hands over his spark and looking afraid.

“ _Primus._ ” He had forgotten all about the sparkling being in their quarters, even though the Seeker had been living with them for almost a month now. “Shatter, don’t _do_ that.”

The sparkling looked down at the floor, hands clenched even more tightly together. He looked spark broken and scared and Sunstreaker felt horribly guilty. He hadn’t meant to scare Shatter.

Shatter turned away when he didn’t say anything else. The sparkling’s entire posture was slumped and he wouldn’t look up as he started to walk away. Sunstreaker felt like he’d been kicked--or like he had been kicking Shatter.

“Shatter, wait.” carefully, he dropped the brush into a container of cleaner and stood up.

The sparkling stopped walking, but he didn’t look back.

The artist stepped over to the younger mech quickly. When he was in front of Shatter, he crouched down so that he would be closer to optic-level with him. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to scare you.”

Shatter looked up at him with surprise plain on his face.

“I bet you didn’t get apologized to with the Decepticons, huh?” carefully, Sunstreaker put his hands on the Seeker’s shoulders. “I mean it. I am sorry. You startled me and I kind of took some of my bad day out on you.”

Shatter frowned and cocked his head to the side. Sunny gave him a small smile. The Decepticons had really messed with the way the Seeker should view the world, but it wasn’t too late to fix that.

“You don’t deserve to have me take my bad day out on you,” the artist said. “You haven’t done anything wrong.”

The sparkling gave him a tentative smile, and Sunstreaker knew that things would be okay between them again.

Sunny pulled Shatter into a hug, which the Seeker returned enthusiastically. “You’ll just have to be patient with me,” he added. “I’m still new at this parenting thing.”

The sparkling hugged him more tightly in response.

“So, you want to do something?”

Shatter pulled away from the hug and nodded.

“What do you want to do?”

The young mech looked toward the canvas on Sunstreaker’s easel and back to the artist.

Sunny grinned. “You want to paint?”

Shatter looked thoughtful for a moment, then nodded.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It wasn’t long before they were both covered in paint; Shatter’s enthusiasm and unfamilarness with the material saw to that. Sunstreaker did his best not to complain about either the wasted materials or the fact that it was going to take _hours_ to get off. The sparkling was having fun--was the closest to truly happy Sunny had ever seen him--and that was all that counted.

And Shatter’s good mood was infectious. Sometime while they were “working” his bad mood melted away and left him feeling as delighted with everything as the young Seeker.

Shatter was sitting on his lap in front of the easel and, at first, he had guided the sparkling’s hand. As the young mech learned how to hold the brush and use it without damaging the bristles, Sunstreaker let go and let Shatter paint at his own pace. The work was childish to the point of abstraction--though the artist thought Shatter might be trying to paint himself, Sunstreaker and Bluestreak--but it was bright and full of happiness.

“Having fun?” Sunstreaker asked after the young mech had been working for almost an hour.

Shatter turned his head to grin at him and nodded. His grin broadened when they both heard the door to their quarters open.

Sunny took the brush when Shatter held it out to him, then moved his arms so that the Seeker could jump down. He hoped that the sparkling wasn’t dripping paint anywhere as he ran to meet Bluestreak. A moment later, he felt a question pulse across their bond-- _What have you two been doing?_ \--and Bluestreak’s amused, “All right, I’m coming!”

Sunstreaker smiled as he cleaned the paintbrush, knowing Shatter was bringing the sniper in to see his painting.

“You didn’t answer my question,” his mate said as they stepped into the studio.

Sunny turned to Blue and gave him a smile. “I knew he was dragging you back to see it.”

Shatter grinned at him and tugged Bluestreak closer to the painting. He pointed at it and looked up at the sniper, positively radiating excitement. His expression clearly said, “Look what I did!”

“Is this us?” Bluestreak asked carefully.

Shatter nodded vigorously.

Blue smiled and knelt down to give the sparkling a hug. “It’s wonderful. You did a good job.”

The sparkling’s smile was bright enough to light the room as he returned the sniper’s embrace. Sunstreaker couldn’t help but smile--again--with him.

With as good as he was feeling now, it was hard to believe he’d had such a lousy day.

“We’ll have to hang it in the main room once it’s dry,” Blue said after he released Shatter. “That way everyone can see it when they come over.”

Shatter looked faintly embarrassed, though that joyous smile didn’t fade a bit.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

“I’m glad you had a better evening,” Bluestreak said to him as they settled into their recharge berth. “I heard about the problems with the contractors.”

“The contractors are just the wire that broke the load lifter,” Sunstreaker replied, pulling himself close to his mate and snuggling against Blue’s side. “It’s those slagging rookies that are the problem.”

The sniper made a thoughtful sound. “Still, I know you had a bad day. I’m glad it got better.”

“Me too.”

“I wish I had gotten a holo of the two of you working. It’d be nice for my desk.”

“Your desk?”

“Sure. Humans keep pictures of their families on their desks at work. Jazz did it too, after he heard about the tradition.” Bluestreak shrugged slightly. “I always thought it was sweet.”

“I am _not_ letting him cover me with paint again,” Sunstreaker replied. “But you can take your holo when I teach him how to write his name so that he can sign his painting properly.”

Bluestreak let his happiness trickle along the bond. “Thanks.”

“But you have to make a copy for my desk too,” the artist added.  



End file.
